Warhorse in desert, ice and jungle

Three Squadron was given its first Iroquois in 1966. Now, with the helicopters' future uncertain in the Air Force of 2001, crew past and present meet and remember. By SCOTT MACLEOD.

Helicopter blades swept scorching air over Sergeant Bill Harrison as the Iroquois winched him through treetops into the steaming Singapore jungle 40 metresbelow.

In the three days and nights ahead, the Royal New Zealand Air Force avionics engineer would learn how to kill leeches with salt, fight off mosquitoes and battle the legions of army ants that swarmed over his body while he tried to sleep in the small stretcher he hauled through the bush.

One morning he awoke, legs aching from the previous day's forced march, to find a snake by his side.

The man jumped one way - the snake jumped the other.

It was 1979, and teams of three to five ground crew were learning how to survive being shot down in remote areas.

Some made it through the exercises. Others simply curled up and wished they were dead.

Mr Harrison was an engineer with Three Squadron, which has become synonymous with the Bell Iroquois helicopter, fondly known as the Huey.

On Saturday, Mr Harrison gathered with 300 others at Hobsonville airbase to celebrate the 35th year of RNZAF Huey operations. Many of the original Iroquois - still in service - were also at the reunion.

But the helicopter itself was incidental to most of the tales told at the buffet dinner. Many yarns focused on events that happened on the ground overseas, from the blazing heat of the Sinai Desert and the jungles of Asia to the biting chill of Antarctica.

Master Helicopter Crewman John Bray recalled serving in Australia, the Pacific, Singapore, Malaysia, Timor, Sinai, Hong Kong and Canada.

He also had the distinction of flying with Sir David Attenborough for two weeks as an RNZAF Iroquois carried the naturalist through Antarctica for a documentary shoot.

Flight Lieutenant Nigel Cooper, aged 28, is bracing himself for another two-month stint in East Timor, where he will fly Iroquois up to seven years older than himself.

Timor gets so hot that the air expands and makes the thrashing rotors of an Iroquois gasp for breath as its pilot tries to lift it over steep terrain.

But although the machines are old and perhaps underpowered for such adventures, they are still highly capable.

Flight Lieutenant Cooper says the Iroquois' great attribute is that it can perform many roles, from police support and rescue operations to firefighting, disaster relief, battlefield support and counter-terrorist operations.

The trickiest skill he has learned in his four years with helicopters is what he calls the "black art" of hovering.

The Iroquois, he says, has highly sensitive controls that move the aircraft in three directions.

Just thinking about a manoeuvre can be enough to tweak the muscles and make an Iroquois move.

Although Three Squadron is famous for its use of the helicopters, it has flown other aircraft in its 71-year history. They include Baffins, Vincents, Hudsons, Tiger Moths, Harvards and Mustangs.

It was only after the squadron was re-formed in 1965 that it started flying Iroquois. It now has 14.

But the Iroquois' future is uncertain.

A Government defence review team is deciding whether to upgrade the helicopters or replace them with a more modern type, such as the Sikorsky Blackhawk.

The history of the Huey stretches back to 1954, when the United States Army issued a specification for a utility helicopter and received 20 responses.

Bell's model 204 was the design winner.

The first model carried a crew of one or two, and up to five passengers or a 1361kg payload.

Later models added an enlarged fuselage to carry more passengers, and Hueys continued to roll off the production line for decades.

In New Zealand, the Air Force has operated 16 Iroquois (NZ3801 to NZ3816) since 1966. The first of the initial five UH-ID machines was delivered on June 15, 1966.

The Iroquois are mainly used in an Army support (air mobile operations, resupply, medevac, and communications) and search-and-rescue role. In addition, they carry out police support (anti-terrorist, armed offenders, anti-drug operations) and civil relief work.

Some of the old-timers at Saturday's reunion said it would be a sad day when the Iroquois were retired.

One grey-haired bloke inspecting one of the oldest helicopters declared that RNZAF ground staff had kept it as good as new.

But some of the younger ones whispered about the growing expense of keeping the machines airworthy.

Former pilot Steve Bone, now 48, said that if the Government were serious about having depth rather than breadth in its defence force, it should pay for upgrades to such items as engines, avionics, tail booms and rotors.

For others, though, the Iroquois is still tops.

Perhaps the last word belongs to Mr Harrison, who rates his jungle stints as some of the most memorable experiences of his life.

"It's still hard to find anything better than a Huey."